Before you start

Registered resident status — citizenship, a teudat oleh or recognised residency. B/1 holders and visitors are excluded
Registration with Bituach Leumi, which triggers health-fund enrolment
A Teudat Zehut or, for olim, a temporary ID number
An Israeli payment method for contributions and the supplemental plan

Step-by-step

1
Register with Bituach Leumi
Public healthcare follows from registered residency. Olim are usually registered on landing; others register at the regional branch or online. For olim this is also what applies the health-tax exemption for roughly the first six months.
In personWho: You, with Bituach LeumiImmediate for olim; 1–3 weeks for a change of status
2
Choose one of the four health funds
Every fund must accept you and provide the identical statutory basket, so compare clinics, apps and supplemental tiers rather than cover. In Nazareth, compare which fund has an Arabic-speaking clinic near you and which has the shorter local specialist queue.
OnlineWho: You, through Bituach LeumiFree; the basic basket is health-tax funded
3
Add the supplemental plan (bituach mashlim)
Almost every resident adds their fund's own supplemental tier for faster specialists, choice of surgeon, partial dental and overseas cover. It is a separate and much cheaper product than standalone commercial insurance.
Mobile appWho: Your kupahRoughly ₪50–150 a month
4
Learn the referral rule and where each hospital's limit is
Most specialist appointments require a hafnaya referral from your GP. Nazareth's three hospitals cover general medicine, surgery, obstetrics and emergency care well, but a tertiary case — major trauma, complex oncology, specialist paediatrics — is referred out to Rambam in Haifa or Emek in Afula. Ask your GP where your condition would be treated before you need the answer.
Mobile appWho: You
5
If you are on a B/1: get the employer's policy in writing
The Foreign Workers Law obliges your employer to provide private medical insurance. Obtain the policy document, the insurer and the hospital network before you need them — and check specifically whether the Nazareth mission hospitals are in the network, because a policy built around Clalit and state hospitals may not include them.
Via employerWho: Your employer

Documents you’ll need

Teudat Zehut, or teudat oleh and temporary ID for new immigrants
Bituach Leumi registration confirmation
Proof of Nazareth address for clinic assignment
Payment details for contributions and the supplemental plan
For B/1 holders: the employer-provided private policy and its hospital network list

Things most newcomers don’t know

Nazareth's hospitals are mission foundations, not state or Clalit hospitals.

EMMS Nazareth was founded by the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society in 1861 and is still run by a Scottish charity; the Holy Family and St Vincent de Paul are Catholic foundations. They are inside the national health system for the purposes of your kupah, but they are governed, funded and staffed differently from the hospitals every generic Israeli health guide describes — including on private-insurance network lists, where they can be absent.

Source: EMMS Nazareth Hospital / The Nazareth Trust

Know your referral hospital before you need it, because the tertiary centre is out of town.

The city's hospitals cover a great deal of ordinary medicine well, but they are not a Rambam or a Soroka. Complex cases travel — about 40 km to Rambam in Haifa or 10 km to Emek in Afula. For a family with a chronic condition that changes the calculus of living here, and it is a question with a definite answer that your GP can give you on day one.

Source: Israeli hospital referral practice; Rambam and Emek catchment

Living and working in Nazareth does not put you in the health system.

Entitlement follows registered residency, not presence or employment. B/1 foreign workers, remote workers and visitors sit outside it entirely and an emergency-room bill lands wholly out of pocket. The Foreign Workers Law places the duty on the employer for B/1 staff, which only helps if you have actually seen the policy.

Source: Bituach Leumi — foreign worker entitlement; Foreign Workers Law 5751-1991

Arabic is a working clinical language here, which is rarer in Israel than you would expect.

Arab citizens are heavily represented in Israeli medicine, but in most cities the clinic's default language is Hebrew and you adapt. In Nazareth the default is Arabic and staff switch to Hebrew for the paperwork. If Arabic is your stronger language, this is a genuine and unusual advantage — and if it is not, note that discharge letters and lab systems will still come out in Hebrew.

Source: community-reported, corroborated across Nazareth clinic practice

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming residence in Nazareth means coverage — B/1 holders, remote workers and visitors are outside the system.
Assuming a private policy covers the mission hospitals without checking the network list.
Booking a specialist without a GP referral (hafnaya) and paying full price.
Discovering only in an emergency that your condition is treated 40 km away in Haifa.
Dialling a single emergency number — it is 101 for a Magen David Adom ambulance, 100 police, 102 fire.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.